Claimed (19 page)

Watching it was like stepping into the Veil. The chill crept across his skin until it enveloped him completely. Aislin stared out from the screen, her eyes icy, her mouth hard.

“Declan, you have until midnight to return to Boston and turn Galena in. If you refuse, your status will be revoked, and your Scope will be decommissioned. It was the wrong choice to cross me, especially now. Fix this.
Immediately.
” The screen went dark.

Dec looked at the time display on Eli’s phone. He had twenty hours until she would make good on that threat. He glanced back at the window, just able to make out Galena’s sleeping form on the bed. He would give anything not to wake her up, to crawl into that bed with her and hold her all night.

But he couldn’t. Now the clock was ticking. And he didn’t want to think about how vulnerable he and Galena would be when the time ran out.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

G
alena squatted behind the wall that ringed the data center, Dec at her side. H
e’d
awakened her a few hours ago, pulling her from a wonderful dream where she was kissing him, one sh
e’d
hoped to make reality. But the grim look on his face had been enough to yank her out of that fantasy. He wouldn’t tell her exactly what was wrong, but he had said they needed to get moving. The
y’d
made a brief stop in Boston’s Chinatown—in a narrow alleyway that smelled like rot and urine, to be precise—where Dec had been able to get a stable-enough signal on his phone to allow her to access the Harvard system and trace where their mail messaging data center was physically located.

Dec was able to navigate quickly to some places in the Veil, but if he didn’t know his destination well, it was hit or miss. So h
e’d
called up a map and stared at the satellite image of the data center so intently that Galena was surprised the screen didn’t melt under his scrutiny. And then h
e’d
pulled her close and brought them into the Veil again.

H
e’d
gotten them here. Now the
y’d
have to rely on the Veil—and her technological expertise—to find the information she needed.

“Ready to go back in?” he asked.

She nodded, holding his hand as they stepped through his Scope. “All I need is a maintenance terminal. And a little bit of time.”

Dec was busy scanning the area for Shades, but the Veil was silent and still. They jogged along the squishy grass until they reached the door of the center. He grinned. “Want to try the handle?”

She rolled her eyes. “I was being chased by a freaking zombie, Dec. Forgive me for temporarily being scared out of my wits.”

He chuckled and led her closer to the door, which was probably made of thick metal in the real world. “You just have to push your way through.”

And then he did, disappearing into the gelatinous door. It closed around his body until only his hand was sticking out, still holding hers. His thumb stroked her fingers, and she couldn’t help her smile, which she was still wearing as her face plunged into the door. For a moment, she couldn’t breathe, and panic surged in her chest. But then her face popped out the other side to see Dec waiting for her. “That was weird.”

He nodded. “Always try to go through the thinnest barrier. Cacy got stuck one time when she was new at this. She tried to bust her way through a thick brick wall and ended up with her head and shoulders in the building but her butt and legs on the outside.”

Galena giggled at the comical image. “Good to know.”

Dec looked around. “So where to? We should get as close as possible before we risk opening the Scope again.”

Galena walked down one long hallway and then another, reading the signs on the doors of the rooms that housed specific servers. Sh
e’d
been able to snag the number range of Harvard’s servers, but when they got to the room, it turned out it hadn’t been necessary—the seal of the university was right there on the door. “Sometimes I make things too difficult,” she muttered.

“So this is it?”

Galena nodded, then barreled through the door a little too enthusiastically and ended up splatting face-first onto the floor of the server room. Dec hoisted her up a second later. In front of them were rows of shelves, each housing dozens of flat boxes about the size of her palm; in the Veil, their little lights shone a watery gray. She walked along one row, searching for what she needed, and finally found it at the end—a small video screen set into the side of the shelf. “This is it,” she said.

Dec pressed his thumb to his Scope. “I’m going to—” He turned sharply.

“What?”

“See that?” He pointed down the aisle.

Squinting, she could just barely make out a shadow crossing the other side of the room. “A Shade?”

He shook his head. “A person in the real world. Probably a security guard.” Dec jogged to the end of the aisle, peered toward one side of the room, and then scooted back. “He’s sitting at a desk in the corner. I’m glad we spotted him. You’re not going in there.”

“I have to, Dec!”

He brushed his thumb over the raven on his Scope, then swung his arms over her head until the portal into the real world was about two feet wide and right in front of her. “No. You’re going to stand right here and stick your hands through. Can you read the screen from here?”

Her back was nestled against his chest, and his muscular arms were on either side of her, surrounding her with safety. Galena slowly stuck her hands through the portal, instantly feeling the warmth of a room full of humming machines. Hesitantly, she touched the screen, and it lit up. Praying the security guard wasn’t monitoring the activity of the maintenance terminals, Galena called up a proxy and logged in.

Access denied.

Damn. They must have frozen her account. Frowning, she logged in under Ankita’s name. Galena couldn’t help that sh
e’d
memorized the keystrokes for her lab assistant’s password. It had been a habit of hers since grade school, and today she was very glad of it. She used Ankita’s account to get to the information for the secure network in her destroyed lab. The data archives for the last thirty days were intact. “I think I’ll be able to see when the messages were first sent to Jian,” she whispered, staring at the slightly warped display through the swirling barrier between the Veil and the real world.

“Good. Hurry.” Dec’s eyes were riveted on the end of the aisle. They were at a slight disadvantage—even with a portal open, they could barely hear the guard, and seeing him wasn’t the easiest thing, either.

She turned back to the screen, letting everything else fall away. Her fingers flew across the display, pushing through lists of files until she found the catalog of messages sent from Danny’s terminal. She couldn’t read the messages—she could only see their time stamps and the user account of the person who had sent them.
Her
user account.

The number of secure chats under her name was weirdly high. She scrolled back through the days, finding message after message, until they stopped about two weeks back. That must have been when whoever was framing her started threatening Jian. But it looked for all the world like
she
was the one who sent them. She kept scrolling back through the data files, noting other messages she knew she had sent. Then she noticed a cluster of tech-support chats dated the week she had arrived in Boston. Her brow furrowed.

She couldn’t recall contacting tech support. Sh
e’d
merely gotten her clearance, set her password, and started her work. “Something’s not right here,” she whispered, preparing to identify all additional entry points to her supposedly secure server. “I just have to—”

Galena’s hands were still reaching for the terminal when Dec cursed abruptly and pushed the Scope forward, enveloping her fully in the Veil once more before slamming the Scope shut. “I think he saw your hands,” he said, his voice tight.

His arm curled around her waist, and he pulled her back as the shadowy form of the guard jogged down the aisle. His phone was to his ear. They watched in horror as he started tapping at the terminal. “No,” Galena whispered. “I didn’t log out.” She turned to Dec, her eyes wide. “What do we do?”

His eyes were just as wide. “We have to get out of here. Now.” He pressed his thumb to his Scope. Without a further word, he stepped close to her, opened a portal, and pulled it down over them.

Galena looked around. They were in the southern part of Cambridge, where its dry streets gave way to narrow, sloshing canals and seedy tenements. “This is close to where Jian lives.”

“I know. I looked his address up in the archived EMS records before your bail hearing.” When he saw her bemused expression, he gave her a crooked smile. “I might not be a genius, but I use what I’ve got.”

She was not about to argue with that. Dec was one of the more effective humans sh
e’d
ever met. He was quick and decisive, but almost never impulsive. In fact, the most impulsive decisions he made seemed to involve her. She knew she shouldn’t be pleased by that, but somehow, she couldn’t help the little glow of warmth in her chest at the thought.

Together, they approached the apartment building where Jian had lived. Dec paused when they reached it, his eyes tracing over a cluster of graffiti next to the entrance.

“What is it?” she asked him.

He shook his head. “Nothing. Let’s go in.”

Galena plunged herself through the door and shivered as she reached the hallway. It was nearly eight in the morning now. Sh
e’d
been out of jail for about eighteen hours. Plenty of time for authorities to mobilize.

And now she and Dec were about to break into a grieving woman’s home, probably scaring the living shit out of her. “Dec, this doesn’t feel good.”

“I know. But we’re running out of time.” He let go of her hand and stalked through the front door of Jian’s apartment.

Galena followed and emerged on the other side to see the transparent form of a slight woman making coffee in the kitchen. “Maybe I should go alone. And knock. And ask if I can come in. I don’t want to just appear in her living room.”

Dec glared at her. “No way. I’m going in without you.”

“What?”

He took her by the shoulders. “Galena, this woman probably believes you threatened her husband, blackmailing him into killing over a dozen people with those bombs. If you show up at her door, she’s going to believe you’re here to finish the job.”

“Oh. I guess you’re right. But you might scare her.”

His expression went from mildly amused to completely blank. “Not unless I need to. I’m going to tell her I’m one of the detectives on the case. You stay close to me, okay? And if you see anything—a Shade, another Ferry, a Ker—you come through and get me. Do not mess around. Everyone’s looking for us right now.”

She stepped close and pressed her cheek to his shoulder, and his arm coiled around her back. He bowed his head, burying it in her hair. “We’re sticking together, do you hear me?” he whispered.

She closed her eyes and wrapped her arms around him. “Yeah,” she whispered back. “I hear you.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

D
ec smoothed his hair down, tucked his Scope into his collar, and straightened his shirt, wishing he was more nicely dressed. Galena’s words scrolled through his head—
You might scare her
. He knew she hadn’t meant him personally, at least, he didn’t think so. In fact, he was pretty sure she was remembering the last time a strange man had showed up at
her
door.

Dec gave a few quiet knocks, not wanting to alert the neighbors. He put on his most charming smile as he faced the security screen set into the door.

“Who is it?”

“Mrs. Lee? I’m sorry to bother you this early, ma’am. I’m Detective Ferris from the Boston PD. I work with Detective Botros, and I have a few questions.”

“Badge?”

Dec yanked his wallet from his pocket and flipped it open. With his thumb over the EMS symbol, he waved his own badge in front of the screen. A moment later, the lock clicked and Mei Lee opened the door. She was maybe five feet tall, with shiny black hair. Her eyes were shadowed with sadness and fatigue, red-rimmed from crying.

“I’m so sorry for your loss, Mrs. Lee,” he said quietly.

She pressed her lips together and nodded. “Come in.”

He followed her into the cramped apartment. The living area consisted of a couch, a videowall, and a strangely bare, dusty space in one corner—probably where Jian’s computer setup had been before it was hauled away by the PD. “Detective Botros sent me over to ask you a few more questions as part of our investigation,” he explained as they sat down on opposite ends of the couch.

“He said h
e’d
finished his investigation of Jian,” she said, her face crumpling. She dabbed her eyes with the loose collar of her shirt.

“Oh, he has. We’re trying to catch the people who Jian was communicating with.”

Mei’s eyes narrowed. “
Her
, you mean. Have they found her? Have they figured out how she escaped?”

“We’re working on it.”

“Good. She deserves to rot in prison for the rest of what I hope will be a very long life.” Mei’s voice cracked, and she covered her face with her hands.

“We’re applying all the resources at our disposal to bring the people responsible for these crimes to justice.” He leaned forward. “Mrs. Lee, we have reason to believe there’s another person involved.”

Mei lowered her hands to her lap. “What?”

Dec couldn’t believe the esteemed detective hadn’t even followed up on any other possible suspects or leads. H
e’d
just singled out Galena and ignored everything else. “Do you know if your husband was receiving threats from anyone else?”

She shook her head. “The detective said all the messages came from Galena Margolis. He said he had proof.”

Dec let out a long breath through his nose. “Okay, but did Jian maybe get any other calls or text messages that seemed to concern him?”

Mei frowned. “Jian wasn’t himself in those last two weeks. I knew something was wrong, but I had no idea what it was.” She rolled her eyes, like she was disgusted with herself. “We were fighting a lot. And our last fight was really bad. It happened the night before he—” She began to cry, but then she took a deep breath and composed herself. “I came home from work and found Jian here with some friends I didn’t know. He was already in a bad mood—they were arguing.”

Dec tilted his head. “Do you know what the argument was about?”

“They were trying to schedule something. Jian was arguing with the guy, and the guy’s girlfriend was trying to hold him back. They quieted down and left when I walked in, but Jian was on a hair trigger. He screamed at me.” She sniffled. “But then he apologized. He said he hated his job. That he hated Galena Margolis. I told him he should quit, that nothing was worth that kind of stress.” She rubbed her eyes. “He said he couldn’t. And now I know why.”

Her body shuddered with a sob, but then she wiped her cheeks and eyed Dec. “I already told the detective all this. Didn’t he include it in his notes?”

Dec held up his hands. “He may have.” But more likely, he hadn’t thought it was important. “I’ve only read the general notes on the case.” He had no idea what he was talking about, but it sounded official. “Ma’am, I know you’ve been through so much, but I was wondering if you could describe this couple to me.”

“They were about our age. Midtwenties. The woman was white and had long brown hair. She was wearing a dress and heels. She was much friendlier than her boyfriend.”

“Was the guy tall?”

She nodded. “Really tall. I mean, everyone looks tall to me, but he was
really
tall.”

“And blond? Pale-blond hair?”

Her brow furrowed. “What? No. Black hair, short black hair. He was African American.”

Dec’s heart jolted in his chest. “Can you describe anything else about him?”

“He was very muscular. And his voice was deep. His eyes were dark. Except, right as he stopped arguing with Jian and turned to look at me, I could have sworn they looke
d . . .
”

Dec felt like the world had shifted. “Yeah?”

“Nothing. It’s crazy. Anyway, I haven’t seen him or his girlfriend since that night, and Jian wouldn’t say anything except they were graduate students that he shared a class with.”

Dec stood up, his thoughts in a whirl. “Thank you for your time, ma’am.”

He made his exit as quickly as possible and entered the Veil in a daze, barely able to comprehend what h
e’d
just heard.

Please, let me be wrong.
And yet it made a sick, horrible kind of sense. Galena rushed over to him before h
e’d
compacted his Scope. “She told you something? What is it?”

“I think she just confirmed that Jian was visited by two Kere the night before he planted the bomb in your lab,” Dec said, shivering from the cold of the Veil and his own icy disbelief. “One of them was Erin, I think. That new Ker we met in Cambridge Common?”

Galena put her hand on his arm. “And was the other Ker Luke?”

Dec’s eyes met hers. “No,” he said. “I think it was my best friend.”

Dec texted Eli:
Meet me.

He knew he didn’t have to say where, because Eli could easily sense Galena and would come straight to her. Sure enough, Eli materialized a minute later in an alcove near Jian Lee’s apartment where they were waiting. “What’s wrong?”

“I need you to take Galena back to the cabin and guard her,” said Dec, forcing himself not to look at Galena.

She wasn’t having it. She touched his cheek and drew his face to hers. “You said we would stick together.”

He put his hand over hers. “And we will. I just need to look into this first, and it’ll work better if I’m alone.” He had no idea what he would find when he confronted Trevor, but it seemed pretty damn likely his friend was a threat to the woman at his side. And she was still mortal. His jaw clenched. “You’ll be safer at the cabin, and I’ll come to you as soon as I can.”

“Dec,” Eli began, “whatever you’re doing, I could come with—”

Dec shook his head. “Make sure your sister is safe.”

Eli frowned, looking back and forth between Dec and Galena. His eyes traced over the scratch on Galena’s forehead, as well as the ones at her throat. And then his gaze lasered in on Dec. “You told me—”

“Keep her safe.” Dec stepped back. “All right?”

Eli’s eyes glinted with red. “Someone has to.” He grabbed Galena’s wrist.

“Wait,” Galena said, but then the two of them disappeared.

Dec stared at the place Galena had been. He hadn’t gotten to say good-bye. His eyes closed. He needed his concentration more than ever now. She was safe. Much safer than she would be with him.

He pulled his Scope off its chain and focused on Trevor’s apartment. H
e’d
spent so many evenings there, just hanging out, drinking, playing pool. Trevor completely understood what it meant to live as long as they did—he was older than Dec, even older than Aislin. He knew the fatigue that came with so many years, so many lost friends, so much of the same old shit year after year. He was a good man. Dec had known something was up with Trevor the past week, and now he might have lost him. Dec slid his thumb over his Scope and stepped into the Veil, then opened a portal to Trevor’s place, a loft in the canal zone of North Boston. Dec peered around cautiously, looking for his friend, not sure what he would find.

“What are you doing here?” Trevor had appeared not three feet away. At six and a half feet tall, built from solid muscle, his eyes glowing red, his fangs gleaming and his claws extended, he was intimidating as hell.

Dec stood his ground, even though Trevor could tear him to shreds if he wanted. “You’re my friend. I was worried about you.”

Trevor looked down at the Scope in Dec’s hand. “You could have come to my front door and knocked.” He touched Dec’s shoulder, and Dec was buffeted by a blast of warm air. They appeared in Trevor’s open living area, next to the pool table. Here, in the real world, Trevor lacked the fangs, claws, and glowing eyes that made him look like a monster. Instead, he just looked tired. His broad shoulders slumped as he slowly and deliberately began to rack the billiard balls, corralling them with his long fingers.

Dec was willing to play along. He grabbed a cue and waited, his hands wrapped around its narrow stalk. Once Trevor had the balls in place, he removed the frame and tossed the cue ball at Dec, who caught it. “You can break,” Trevor said quietly.

Dec set the creamy white ball on the table and squared up. The familiar movements were easy, but the lump in his throat was making it hard to breathe. With a crack, the cue ball shot forward into the mass of solids and stripes, scattering them. The 2 careened straight into a corner pocket. “I’ve missed you, man.” He lined up for another shot.

Trevor’s jaw ridged with tension. “Yeah. Me too, Dec.”

Dec took his shot, sending the 3 glancing off a rail. His focus wasn’t exactly on the game. “I need you to tell me what’s been going on. I came here because I want to hear it from you.”

Trevor went to work on the striped balls, taking two shots before he spoke again. “I’ve been a Ker for a long time, man. I’ve done Moros’s bidding for over a hundred years.” He rubbed his hand along his jaw. “And I guess it just wore on me. I’ve been feeling angry about it. I mean, I chose this. I was all shot up, lying on the street, bleeding out, and Moros gave me a choice. Live forever? Sign me up.” He grimaced. “But when I was alive, I killed two people. Now? I’ve killed
thousands
.”

Dec skimmed his thumb over the chalky tip of his cue. “We’ve talked about this, though. Death is part of life, and you kill as mercifully as you can. And that’s why you’re a paramedic, too, to preserve life.”

Trevor shook his head. “Moros should have left me alone. He made me this. His creature.” The muscles on his shoulders bulged with tension. “I wanted to destroy him,” he growled.

Dec took a wary step back as Trevor’s eyes flashed red. “When?”

“
I’d
been feelin
g . . .
off. For a few days.” Trevor rubbed his chest, leaving a smear of chalk on his shirt. “Just disconnected and strange.”

“Disconnected.” It reminded him of what Rylan had said about Mandy, how sh
e’d
realized she wasn’t tethered to Moros, how she could kill at will without him knowing. “For how long?”

“Not sure. The feeling came and went. Then I got this crazy idea when Eli told me Moros was going to have to go before the Keepers.” He clutched his head between his hands. “At the time, it felt like something I had to do. But now?” He shook his head. “It seems crazy.”

“I just came from visiting Jian Lee’s wife. Does that name ring a bell?”

Trevor nodded. “He was supposed to be Marked. I found him coming out of Galena Margolis’s lab and followed him home.”

“And was Erin with you?”

“You know Erin?” Trevor sighed. “We were hanging out. She was brand-new, and I was showing her the ropes. I don’t know what I was thinking, taking her with me.”

“So what happened?”

“I Marked him right outside his apartment building, but a few seconds after I did, I got that strange feeling again. This was it—my way to get to Moros, maybe the only way—and I was just going to let this opportunity go? I knew Nader and Tamasin were guarding Galena, but if I could stop her research, do so much damage that she couldn’t continue, then the Keepers would destroy Moros. And so I pretended like I recognized Jian. Asked him if he worked for her. At first, Erin thought that was just how Kere do things, I guess. She’s so new. She played along, said she worked in one of the science departments on campus. We shook hands, all friendly.” Trev whistled, a low, melancholy note. “But Jian was almost shaking with hatred for Galena. As soon as introductions were over, he came right out and said sh
e’d
ruined his life.”

“And you actually believed that?” Dec snapped, more harshly than he intended. He forced himself to stay calm. “She’s Eli’s sister, Trev.”

Trevor pressed one of his knuckles to his temple and closed his eyes. “I know, man. But in that moment, all I could think about was getting to Moros. After we started talking, Erin realized how crazy I was acting. She was tugging on my arm, pulling me away, but the only thing in my head was revenge. So I asked Jian—if I wanted to destroy Galena’s research, how would I do that? Because the dude was doomed, man. One thought from me and h
e’d
have a stroke. I just figured
I’d
get some information first.

“He looked shocked, but then he told me Galena Margolis was blackmailing him, forcing him to destroy her lab and anyone wh
o’d
had the vaccine. He thought maybe
sh
e’d
sent me.”

“Didn’t that strike you as odd?”

Trev’s hand fell away from his face. “That night, that moment? I just thought, ‘Great. She’s making it easy for us.’ I didn’t care about her. All I cared about was setting Moros up for a fall.” Trev opened his eyes.

“When you told Jian yo
u’d
help him destroy Galena’s work, what did he say?”